Promised to "tell" about our Carnival cruise, so here it is!

[ksouma]

I am not trying to burst any Carnival bubbles or anything but I have a friend who just returned from a Carnival cruise with his wife and 2 kids. He said he would never travel Carnival again. He was highly disappointed that he did not spend the extra money and go DCL. I understand this is his opinion but he told me of several horror stories. Drunks, woman running amuck with out bikini tops on and so forth....

His wife was harassed by drunks and even had a drunk touch her inappropriately right in front of his kids... He complained and Carnival said they would give a warning to the other person.....

He knows I am going DCL in November and is awaiting my report on DCL so he can decide if he wants to try DCL or go with another cruise line in the future. He swears up and down he would not go on a Carnival cruise again even if it were offered for free......

I spoke with him just a few minutes ago after I read this thread and his advice was stay away from Carnival and go with another cruise line....

Just his 2-cents but take it for what it is worth....

 

[hilltopfamily]

so sorry to hear about the reports from your friend's cruise--it is not at all in line with what we enjoyed. I guess I can only relate our experience, which was nothing but positive. And potential cruisers can go to several boards and see many reviews specific to any ship they are considering. I know that's what I did before hand. Both with DCL & with CCL!

I'm very surprised by your relaying of your friends experiences, as we HONESTLY did not experience ANY of the items you mention. AND our cruise was during the heart of spring break, which is why we were especially worried about seeing/being exposed to inappropriate situations. In fact, we were really watching out for anything, thinking we'd cancel our summer trip if we saw anything that wasn't right for our family. What ship was he on, if you know?

We never witnessed nudity, never was approached by, or even saw drunks onboard except the 1 sad man sitting at the casino bar the final night, saying how depressed he was that the cruise was over! I think he was drowning his sorrows a bit. LOL We did, of course, see many people, myself included, enjoying foo-foo drinks and such on board.

 

[floridaminnie]

ksouma...what port did your friend sail out of? I wonder if the Florida ports are the more party animal groups that we've heard about?!?!

 

[ksouma]

I know he flew to Miami but I will have to check and see if that is where his departure was from. I guess it is possible that he is ad-libbing a bit but he is a pretty laid back guy and to hear him say what he did kind of surprised me.. He is the type to let things roll off his back...

He was originally going to go on a RCCL but changed to Carnival for the cheaper price. He considered DCL but was not thrilled with the price. I will have to get more info from his if you want but I am sure Carnival normally does a great job. I considered them but backed out over the party image they have and I really do not want any part of a meat market on water....

I have never been on a cruise before so I guess I am basing Carnival off of his comments and what their reputation currently is…… The same holds true for DCL, I have a co-worker who went on the 4-day last October with her husband and kids and she highly recommended DCL.... I don't know, I guess I should not even be posting on this since I have zero cruising experience!

 

[prymsu]

My family has taken six CCL cruises, and two DCL cruises. We enjoy both. However, we do lean towards CCL. We personally have not had any bad experiences on CCL, and my son, who is now 11 enjoys the CCL kids programs better, but i think that might be because there are less kids? When you compare the money, we are able to get the biggest cat on CCL, where as when we go on DCL, this is not the case.

CCL could learn a thing or two though from DCL as far as the embarkation goes. I think part of the reason my husband perfers CCL is that the shows are different too.

Glad you had a wonderful trip.

 

[CheapMom]

Ksouma- that is a terrible story- I guess Florida in the Spring gets the Spring Break factor, etc...
There is a very weird thing going on right now with young women (college aged) where exposing themselves is becoming normal. We have all heard (or seen ) the Flash mountain stories. My husband was at a concert last year and was shocked when he noticed several of the girls had removed their tops. Some people say it is no different than the 60's but I disagree- these young women don't appear to be counterculture or to be making any statement other than "I am a Girl Gone Wild"
For that reason I would be leary about choosing a vacation that would also appeal to the early 20 sect.

 

[luvindisneyworld]

We have also been on 2 Carnival cruises and we Love cruising with them.

We left out of Pt.Canaveral both times on the 4 day Bahamas cruise.We will definetly be cruising Carnival again.

I cannot recommend them enough.

We have not cruised Disney yet.So cannot compare.

 

[denise5374]

I am glad that you had a great cruise with CCL. Having only taken once DCL cruise with one this August , I am already addicted to cruising but at DCL rates it won't happen every year, unless I try anothe line. I was leaning toward RCCL but now I will also investigate CCL. My kids are now 7 and 11.

Thanks for the report!

 

[IrishCowboy]

hilltopfamily,

Thanks for the report and comparison. Glad to hear that your family has a great time.

 

[mmouse37]

We have sailed DCL 10 times but hubby and I have sailed on other lines as well....the three teens have not. My DD16 sailed to Bermuda out of NYC on Carnaival last summer and absolutely loved it!!! She said there were much more teens onboard and loved the food, teen activities, etc.

She still has a special place in her heart for DCL but had a wonderful time as a teen onboard Carnival. She sailed on one of the newer ships.

We were going to do a family cruise on Carnival to Bermuda this summer as we live only 30 minutes from the cruise ship terminal....no airfare is involved but Carnival is not doing Bermuda out of NYC this summer....we were disappointed.

MJ

 

[jgalecpa]

Great post.

I always appreciate good, FIRST Hand information.

FloridaMinnie:

I hope that is not a permanent condition! I can't bear thinking about you and your beautiful daughter not on a DCL!


Jim

 

[4cruisin]

I would like to add that my dh and I were given a cruise last month on CCL. We sailed on the Legend out of Pt. Everglades and we had a wonderful time. I probably would not have sailed on CCL by my own choosing because of the negative things I have heard. I promised that I would try not to compare CCL to DCL and take the trip for what it was worth (FREE). Well, we had a great time. There are definite differences between both lines but for the $$, Carnival is a great value. We had such a great time, that my dsis, dbil, dcousin, her husband and my dh and I booked another cruise on the Carnival Miracle for January. Dh and I had a cruise booked on DCL for December, but I cancelled it. We can sail 2 cruises on CCL for what 1 on DCL would cost.

I am not bashing DCL, we absolutely loved both cruises we have taken with Disney, but they are going overboard (no pun intended) with their pricing and I cannot justify paying such high rates in a competitive market.

Nancy

 

[hydster]

Penny---I don't think our server was Leroy but I can't remember because his service was subpar! We were also told repeatedly to give our server an excellent rating but we just couldn't bring ourselves to do it. I felt a little guilty but figured he just didn't do anything to deserve an excellent rating. One night we asked for Ketchup for my ds's hot dogs and he never brought it. We asked at least 4 times before my ds just said forget it and ate it with nothing.

On our Carnival cruise we had ketchup, mustard and relish on our table every night before we even got there. It was nice! I expected that out of DCL and didn't get it and felt a little disappointed. Not enough to keep me away (obviously) but it was just weird!

Our kids LOVED the CCL kids camp! They seemed to have an equal balance between structure and free play.

In all of our cruises we've never seen anyone running around topless and have only encountered about 3 extremely drunk people and that was right as we were leaving Cozumel and I think they went to Carlos N Charlies for the whole day! We've met some incredibly awesome people on Carnival and did a cruise with 2 of them a few years ago on the Carnival Spirit to Belize, Costa Rica and Panama. They are still our friends to this day! We've sailed out of Los Angeles, Miami, Galveston on Carnival and they all seemed to be about the same. I didn't notice anyone more wasted on any of the cruises. We went on one during NYE for the Millenium cruise and even then never noticed anyone drunk out of their mind. Sure people were drinking and a little loud but nothing inappropriate or disturbing (and remember I come from UTAH) LOL I saw more nudity and drunkeness in Cancun last year than I've seen collectively on cruise ships.

Glad some other's have had as good of an experience on Carnival as we have had!

Heidi

 

[lilkitty819]

Hi all,

I have sailed on 2CCL and have always had a great time...This fall will be our first Disney cruise and I am nervous about sailing on Disney, only because we have only sailed on CCL...
And ksouma more then likely your friend was probablely cruising on the western route which tends to have a more party group..especially during springbreak...So don't judge it till you, yourself have gone...You might be surprise..as most people are.

 

[floridaminnie]

Originally posted by jgalecpa
Great post.

I always appreciate good, FIRST Hand information.

FloridaMinnie:

I hope that is not a permanent condition! I can't bear thinking about you and your beautiful daughter not on a DCL!


Jim

Thanks Jim, but they need to come out with some really good Florida rates for me. I've been pricing cruises up to a hear out and DCL is double of the other cruiselines.

 

[decolady]

THANK YOU for the great trip report!! I sailed on the Celebration in spring of 1988, when she was a brand new ship, and it was great! But I was young and single then, and I have been wondering how I would like CCL now that I have a family. Glad to know that it is still a good alternative to DCL!!

 

[oceanmarina]

Penny,

Hi. My hubby & I sailed Carnival this summer & were also pleasantly surprised. We sailed on Celebrity the month before and although Carnival did not match the finesse of Celebrity, they exceeded our expectations. Great food, service, a wonderful experience. I would sail them again, especially with their competitive prices. Our first cruise on Disney will be this July. The Disney price was very expensive, but we are very excited for our cruise!

~ Marina

 

[ksouma]

With everyone saying just how cheap Carnival is, I figured I would do a little research on the subject... I do not recall the price difference being all that big when I was researching for our cruise... Here is what I found....

1st I only use the ships with equal star rating... In this case Disney is rated at 4 plus so I only use Carnival 4 plus star rated ships for the comparison.. Comparing a 4 plus to a 3 (most of carnival ships) is not fair and is like comparing a Geo to a BMW...

I use my current trip and came up with prices for both Disney and Carnival..... Here they are.....

7 day Eastern on a 4 plus star ship in November 2004 for my 12-year-old son and I....

-- Disney Magic (4 plus star rating) $1,630.70 (no insurance and no transfers from airport to port) Inside Stateroom, Deck 6, Room # 6051

-- Carnival Glory (4 plus star rating) $1,434.28 (no insurance and no transfers from airport to port) Inside Stateroom, Deck 6, Room # 6378

Using these numbers I find that the difference is that Carnival will save me $196.42 or $98.21 per person......

I do not see Carnival being as cheap as many here are making out to be.... If you compare a Carnival 3 star ship to the Magic then yes Carnival is much cheaper but again it's like comparing a Yugo to a Mercedes......

 

[floridaminnie]

I'm a teacher so I'm off only during Disney's HIGH time. I've been comparing prices between DCL and RC and there's a 1500 difference.

 

[decolady]

There are many, many deals offered on Carnival that Disney never offers. Check around on the internet and you can save quite a bit on Carnival, especially if you can travel last minute. I agree, regular fares are not that different.